1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lighting systems utilized in product display applications and more specifically to a lighting system incorporating a luminaire having a plurality of lamps for illuminating a plurality of target lighting areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many known display lighting systems employ lighting units that are placed above or below the objects they are intended to illuminate, typically held in place by a fixture or fixtures. These systems are typically adapted to be secured to a conventional product gondola, for example supermarket shelving, having a number of spaced uprights connected by horizontal shelving onto which products are placed. In such a system, the uprights generally include a plurality of slots in which shelving tabs are inserted, and also into which pairs of arms are inserted to secure the lighting systems outwardly from the uprights to provide illumination for the shelving. Many of these systems include a light source or lamp, a ballast, reflectors, lamp holders, and connectors for fastening the various components of the system together.
These prior art display lighting systems are typically placed above a plurality of product shelves to illuminate the products situated below. Luminaires are spaced outwardly from the product shelves by spaced arms in order to efficiently illuminate the displayed products. One disadvantage of these known systems is the difficulty of installation of new luminaries given their complex design and difficulty in routing wiring to a plurality of luminaires. Accordingly, access to wiring is often cumbersome, since the wiring must be routed from a source point, out one of the arms, and into the luminaire.
Additionally, prior art systems are unable to illuminate products in more than one lighting zone or target area utilizing a single luminaire. This problem can be overcome by mounting a plurality of luminaires in close proximity, thereby permitting the illumination of multiple zones. However, it is typically difficult to arrange these prior art systems to illuminate multiple lighting areas, without the placement of the luminaires being obtrusive to patrons. Additionally, the complexity of the wiring required to supply power to the luminaires increases greatly when additional luminaires are required for a display, thereby increasing attendant costs for labor and material.
Some prior art systems have also included various mechanisms whereby the mounting angle of a luminaire may be varied to cast light at alternative angles, depending upon the placement of products in the display. One difficulty with this system is that where a store has a great number of similarly situated product gondolas, each luminaire in the system must be identically adjusted to prevent the lighting system from looking haphazard. In other words, unless the light patterns cast by the luminaires are essentially the same, the system looks “sloppy”. This difficulty can only be overcome by manually setting each luminaire to the identical position, which of course requires a great deal of labor in large stores.